Lets not make this an "MD vs. DO" thread, or a "real DO vs wanna-be MD" thread. Like i said before, I do believe anyone with sufficient motivation can learn to be good at this stuff with proper supervision and hard work, but you CANNOT master osteopathy from a book- and it DOES take months and years to refine your sensory perception.
Bustbones- I cant blame you for confusing the AOA propaganda of body-mind-spirit and holistic medicine with osteopathic philosophy- since this is really all the philosophy most schools teach. Think about it- those touchy-feely concepts are not unique to osteopathy at all- in fact, they are common sense to just about anyone whos popped a book on alternative medicine. And yes a 10th grader could understand these, and yes, AT talked about them- but...
Osteopathic philosophy is MUCH deeper than this, and actually VERY difficult to fully grasp, which is perhaps why it is skimmed over in such a superficial way at many schools. I would assert that even many who specialize in OMM never fully understand.
So, lets give the example of an asthma case- 8 y.o. presents with an acute asthma exacerbation.
What do you do in the allopathic model? If you are smart- you look up UptoDate online and see that:
Measuring changes in PFR is critical for diagnosis as well as follow-up.
Patient education is crucial to prevent reoccurrence.
For treatment:
Standard of care in ER: albuterol 2.5mg continuous flow nebulization every 20 minutes for 3 doses- or maybe 10mg continuous over one hour for critical patients.
Metered dose inhailers (MDIs) with lower dosing, however, are far more efficient- and are now recommended by the research literature.
Ipatroprium bromide is recommended for patients not responsive to albuterol. The studies have shown variable results with ipatroprium, and theyve shown no benefit to co-administering it with albuterol, since most respond to albuterol alone.
Of course over the long run you may need daily albuterol- with underuse of meds leading to increased exacerbations and increased mortality, and overuse causing risks of increased asthma mortality as well as beta agonist tolerance and worsened airway hyper-reactivity.
Sounds good?
What does an osteopath contribute? Touch their shoulder as you talk to make them feel more comfortable with you? Ask another 20 minutes more history? Maybe crack their back to make them ache less? Rib raising? Or perhaps we have nothing to offer because this isnt a musculoskeletal disease? Ha. If this is the way you think- youve missed the point of osteopathic philosophy by a mile.
Note that thus far- we have treated the disease (Asthma) and nothing unique about the patient. State of the art medicine can treat diseases very well, and manage symptoms very well. CURES however come from the host side. Allopathic treatment, unfortunatly, has few tools to directly target the host, and the host is as important as the pathogen/disease process in recovery of disease.
In Research and Practice- AT Still claimed that in 30 years of practice he only encountered one or two cases of asthma he didnt cure- and those were cases suffering with tuberculosis as well. How is this possible? Was he lying? Let me walk you through the osteopathic approach.
DIAGNOSIS: Is there a history of physical or emotional trauma at the time of onset of the first asthma symptoms? If physical- what was the exact mechanism of injury?
Watch the patient- are they using secondary respiratory musculature? What parts of their rib cage arent moving? Is there thus a mechanical restriction from a particular rib (especially first rib) that could be decreasing PFRs?
What is the condition of the jugular foramen and surrounding fascia where the vagus nerve leaves the skull? Could the patient have chronic vagal nerve irritation and thus tonic parasympathetic overstimulation of the lung tissue?
What is the condition of T1-T6? Are any of these facilitated, restricted in motion, type 2 dysfunction, or otherwise abnormal? You know that sympathetics to the lung exit here, and disturbance here secondary to trauma may impact resting sympathetic tone in the lungs.
Physical trauma- treat mechanical findings secondary to injury at time of asthma onset + any other obvious findings that my contribute to symptoms.
Emotional trauma/triggers- treat mechanical findings plus seek counseling for patient.
Postural strain- Patients with postural strain causing upper thoracic/OA dysfunction need the source of the postural concerns addressed as well as mechanical findings likely associated with symptoms.
You should also medicate these patients to relieve them of acute symptoms until the autonomic changes can fully take effect. They may be coughing out ropey tissue from the autonomic imbalance for several days or even weeks. Also- you might expect those with upper thoracic disturbance to respond well with albuterol, and those with more OA dysfunction to respond better with ipatropium.
These patients clearly need to be closely monitored and seen for follow-ups regularly to observe progress (and if no progress is seen you clearly havent found the cause- keep looking). This is an osteopathic approach to asthma.
Dont take a word I say on faith- be critical. Please review the anatomy yourself, and shadow enough so you can see that osteopaths (at least those that practice this way) get miracle cures in their business as usual. It only seems like a miracle to those who dont understand the functional anatomy behind it. It takes some mental work- every patient is a unique puzzle to figure out. But the patients get better.
Dont just copy AT either. Use our modern medical understanding to compliment the old-timers philosophy. He didnt know everything back then. Our science has grown in leaps and bounds, and to ignore our advances in our knowledge of pathophysiology or our tools for treatment is to seriously limit your ability to help patients.
You can apply this osteopathic philosophy to every patient you see for the entirety of your career- or you can turn your brain off and do whatever is the standard of care for patients with X or Y condition. This is your choice. Not all DOs can be osteopaths, but I encourage any physician (MD or DO) that has the motivation to learn these tools to do so. It just so happens that we get hands-on time in DO schools, but this counts for little if you never really learn why you do it.
rpkall said:
Thanks, all of you, for your honest replies.
I think I may order a copy of Still's old book, and try to look at healing through a different looking glass while I learn; I think it would enrich my experience at allo school.
Regarding the hands-on skill of manipulation: is it something that you must be certified to do through an osteopathic licensing board? Is there an exam/practical you must pass? I know DOs take the COMLEX, which is the USMLE+OMM, but in order to do OMM in practice as one who only took the USMLE, what kind of licensure is there?
I appreciate everyone's help. Best of luck to you all in your respective programs.
Im glad for your interest. Best of luck in your studies as well- but suspect from your professionalism and enthusiasm you will be a great physician regardless of luck.
To answer your question- you do not need to be certified. So far as I know- an MD or DO (for right or wrong) gives you full practice rights to do anything within your competency to perform. Remember that competency is a VERY subjective term. I suspect MDs can get reimbursed for OMM and acupuncture just by taking weekend courses and having very little to no skill. If you have skill though, all the better. Regardless of whether you can code specifically for OMM though- you get paid well for being a physician, and any tool to make your patients better- you may want to consider (and it seems to be a huge draw for a practice).
Michael
P.S. I am not a physician yet- do not go by anything I have said to diagnose or treat diseases without physician supervision- at this point simply add them to your academic thought process.